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The government has never shied away from using graphic images to get its road safety message through, and for a long time has accused drink-drivers of being bloody idiots.

Now, in a viral campaign aimed at distracted young drivers, it's gone a step further, telling them "Don’t Be A Dickhead".

But the new ads – which will run online, not on TV – also use humour.

"Every time you use your mobile phone in your car, an emo is born," warns one ad (pictured). 

Other ads have a dig at redheads or threaten to turn off Facebook.

Yesterday, Roads Minister Tim Pallas called Formula One driver Louis Hamilton a dickhead for doing burnouts in a suburban Melbourne street over the weekend.

But Premier John Brumby says you won't hear him using the same blue language. 

''It's not a word for me to use publicly,'' he told 3AW.

"My name's not on that campaign ... [but] I support the efforts to reduce deaths.''

The president of the Victorian Principals Association, Gabrielle Leigh, says the ads aren't appropriate for young students.

"We're trying to raise the bar and this doesn't help," she told The Age.

''We're very much looking at the English language and using [it] in the best possible way … for the young generation."